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The Yucatán Lions were founded in 1954 under the leadership of Alvaro Ponce Vidiella and Humberto "Beto" Abimerhi Abimerhi. The team's entry to the Mexican League was announced on January 5, 1954. The team nickname is a reference to the name of the beer company built by the Ponce family. The Leones opened the season on April 17 at the newly built Carta Clara Park, hosting the previous season's champions, the Nuevo Laredo Owls, and earning an 8–0 victory. In its first year in the league, the Leones won 47 games and lost 32, with one tie, and finished in second place to the defending champion Owls. The team ceased play after the 1958 season.[1]

After the 1969 season, filmmaker Manuel Barbachano Yucatán Ponce, moved the Pericos de Puebla franchise to Mérida, renaming it the Leones. In the opening game of the 1970 season on March 18 the Leones beat the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz, 4–1. The franchise remained in Mérida for five seasons and then moved to Villahermosa, Tabasco, when Ariel "Picho" Magaña Carrillo purchased the team.

The third incarnation of the Lions began in 1979. On April 6, 1978, the Assembly of the Mexican League approved five expansion teams for the 1979 season. One of the expansion teams was awarded to Yucatán.[2]